Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Capillary performance analysis of copper powder-fiber composite wick for ultra-thin heat pipe

  • Original
  • Published:
Heat and Mass Transfer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Excellent ultra-thin heat pipes (UTHP) require a wick with high capillary force (ΔPc) and a good permeability performance (K). In this work, a copper powder-fiber composite wick was fabricated by sintering of the copper powder and fiber mixture. Effects of the copper powder particle size, copper powder volume ratio, as well as the super-hydrophilic treatment were investigated, and the results indicate that the copper powder volume ratio is the most significant factor by orthogonal experiments. Moreover, sensitivity analysis shows that super-hydrophilic treatment contributes the lower capillary force and higher permeability, except when copper powder particle size is high to 80 mesh and powder ratio is low to 20%. Interestingly, the overall capillary performance (ΔPc·K) of the super-hydrophilic treated wicks is significantly improved. Besides, for the super-hydrophilic treated wicks, both the smaller copper powder particle size and volume ratio contribute the higher permeability and better comprehensive performance, even though a worse capillary force.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ΔPc :

Capillary pressure, kPa

ΔPr :

Flow resistance loss, kPa

ΔPg :

Gravity loss, kPa

σ:

Water surface tension,N/m

θ:

Contact Angle between water and the wick

rpr :

Pore radius of the wick, m

recr :

Effective capillary radius,m

µ:

Viscosity of water, Pa·s

dh/dt:

Capillary rising rate, m/s

ρ:

Density of water at 25℃, kg/m3

g:

Acceleration of gravity in water at 25℃, m/s2

ε:

Porosity of the wick

K:

Permeability of the wick, m2

ΔPc·K:

Capillary parameter, N

Kji :

Sum of the evaluation index of the level i for factor j

\({\stackrel{-}{\text{K}}}_{\text{j}\text{i}}\) :

Average value of Kji for factor j

Rj :

Range between the maximum and minimum values of \({\stackrel{-}{\text{K}}}_{\text{j}\text{i}}\)

j:

Factor notation (A, B, C)

i:

Level number

yji :

Result value for factor j at level i

Ni :

Total level number for factor

A1, t1, A2, t2, y0 :

Constant values for the fitted curve

References

  1. Li H, Fu S, Li G, Fu T, Zhou R, Tang Y et al (2018) Effect of fabrication parameters on capillary pumping performance of multi-scale composite porous wicks for loop heat pipe. Appl Therm Eng 143:621–629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhou W, Li Y, Chen Z, Deng L, Gan Y (2019) A novel ultra-thin flattened heat pipe with biporous spiral woven mesh wick for cooling electronic devices. Energy Convers Manag 180:769–783

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Jafari D, Wits WW, Geurts BJ (2018) Metal 3D-printed wick structures for heat pipe application: Capillary performance analysis. Appl Therm Eng 143:403–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chen Z, Li Y, Zhou W, Deng L, Yan Y (2019) Design, fabrication and thermal performance of a novel ultra-thin vapour chamber for cooling electronic devices. Energy Convers Manag 187:221–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Li J, Lv L, Zhou G, Li X (2019) Mechanism of a microscale flat plate heat pipe with extremely high nominal thermal conductivity for cooling high-end smartphone chips. Energy Convers Manag 201:112202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wong S-C, Chen C-W (2012) Visualization and evaporator resistance measurement for a groove-wicked flat-plate heat pipe. Int J Heat Mass Transf 55:2229–2234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Tang Y, Deng D, Lu L, Pan M, Wang Q (2010) Experimental investigation on capillary force of composite wick structure by IR thermal imaging camera. Exp Thermal Fluid Sci 34:190–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Tang H, Tang Y, Wan Z, Li J, Yuan W, Lu L et al (2018) Review of applications and developments of ultra-thin micro heat pipes for electronic cooling. Appl Energy 223:383–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Li Y, He J, He H, Yan Y, Zeng Z, Li B (2015) Investigation of ultra-thin flattened heat pipes with sintered wick structure. Applied Thermal Engineering 86:106–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ahamed MS, Saito Y, Mashiko K, Mochizuki M (2017) Characterization of a high performance ultra-thin heat pipe cooling module for mobile hand held electronic devices. Heat Mass Transf 53:3241–3247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Yang K-S, Lin C-C, Shyu J-C, Tseng C-Y (2014) C.-C. Wang. Performance and two-phase flow pattern for micro flat heat pipes. Int J Heat Mass Transf 77:1115–1123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Wong S-C, Liao W-S (2018) Visualization experiments on flat-plate heat pipes with composite mesh-groove wick at different tilt angles. Int J Heat Mass Transf 123:839–847

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Huang S, Wan Z, Zhang X, Yang X, Tang Y (2019) Evaluation of capillary performance of a stainless steel fiber–powder composite wick for stainless steel heat pipe. Appl Therm Eng 148:1224–1232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Wong S-C, Chen C-W (2013) Visualization experiments for groove-wicked flat-plate heat pipes with various working fluids and powder-groove evaporator. Int J Heat Mass Transf 66:396–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Ling W, Zhou W, Yu W, Chu X (2018) Capillary pumping performance of porous copper fiber sintered wicks for loop heat pipes. Appl Therm Eng 129:1582–1594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Shaeri MR, Attinger D, Bonner RW (2018) Vapor chambers with hydrophobic and biphilic evaporators in moderate to high heat flux applications. Appl Therm Eng 130:83–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Liu C-Q, Xu J-L, Ji X-B (2018) Heat transfer characteristics of super-hydrophilic and super-hydrophobic matched ultra-thin heat pipe[J]. Chem Ind Eng Progress 37(6):2067–2076

    Google Scholar 

  18. O’Hanley H, Coyle C, Buongiorno J (2013) Separate effects of surface roughness, wettability and porosity on boiling critical heat flux. Applied Physics Letters 103(2)

  19. Li H, Fang X, Li G, Zhou G, Tang Y (2018) Investigation on fabrication and capillary performance of multi-scale composite porous wick made by alloying-dealloying method. Int J Heat Mass Transf 127:145–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Li J, Zou Y, Cheng L (2010) Experimental study on capillary pumping performance of porous wicks for loop heat pipe. Exp Thermal Fluid Sci 34:1403–1408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Somasundaram D, Mani A, Kamaraj M (2017) Experimental investigation of thermal performance of metal foam wicked flat heat pipe. Exp Thermal Fluid Sci 82:482–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Lv L, Li J (2017) Managing high heat flux up to 500 W/cm2 through an ultra-thin flat heat pipe with superhydrophilic wick. Appl Therm Eng 122:593–600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Deng D, Tang Y, Huang G, Lu L, Yuan D (2013) Characterization of capillary performance of composite wicks for two-phase heat transfer devices. Int J Heat Mass Transf 56:283–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Weng J, Ouyang D, Yang X, Chen M, Zhang G, Wang J (2019) Alleviation of thermal runaway propagation in thermal management modules using aerogel felt coupled with flame-retarded phase change material. Energy Convers Manag 200:112071

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Yuan Z, Chen X, Zeng H, Wang K, Qiu J (2018) Identification of the elastic constant values for numerical simulation of high velocity impact on Dyneema ® woven fabrics using orthogonal experiments. Composite Structures 204:178–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U1507201) and Guangdong-Hong Kong joint innovation projects (2016A050503020).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, The Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Junyi Niu, Ning Xie, Xuenong Gao, Yutang Fang & Zhengguo Zhang

  2. Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center of Efficient Heat Storage and Application, South China University of Technology, 510640, Guangzhou, China

    Xuenong Gao, Yutang Fang & Zhengguo Zhang

Authors
  1. Junyi Niu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ning Xie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xuenong Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yutang Fang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Zhengguo Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xuenong Gao.

Ethics declarations

Declaration of interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Niu, J., Xie, N., Gao, X. et al. Capillary performance analysis of copper powder-fiber composite wick for ultra-thin heat pipe. Heat Mass Transfer 57, 949–960 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02989-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02989-5

Search

Navigation